Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bloomberg: Egypt, home to the Arab world’s largest Muslim population, will issue its first Islamic debt guidelines in 2011 to catch up with the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia and help spur sales.
“The target of issuing these regulations is to help companies that want to issue sukuk,” Ziad Bahaa El-Din, chairman of the Cairo-based Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, said……………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulfnews.com: The World Bank said Sunday that it is setting up a regional initiative in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) that could raise up to $1 billion to close the infrastructure gap in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), which will undermine the region’s growth if not urgently addressed.
The Middle East and North Africa region needs to invest between $75 billion and $100 billion a year to sustain the growth rates that have been achieved in recent years and to boost economic competitiveness, the World Bank said. It added that private sector investment in infrastructure in Mena countries is limited, especially outside the Gulf countries despite huge unmet demand for infrastructure services…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulfnews.com: The global financial crisis prompted the World Bank Group to double its commitment to a record $3.8 billion (Dh13 billion) in fiscal year 2010 (July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010), to support the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), the World Bank said.
“The World Bank’s fin-ancial assistance in the region more than doubled from $1.7 billion in FY09 to $3.8 billion in FY10, with more than $3.6 billion in commitments from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD),” the bank said in a statement…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Khaleejtimes.com: A Malaysia International Finance Centre (MIFC) delegation, headed by Raja Nazrin Shah, crown prince of Perak, visited Saudi Arabia recently to promote Islamic finance relations.
The 33-member delegation included representatives of 17 Islamic banks and 12 Islamic fund management companies and some asset management firms, aside from Takaful operators, and legal and other professional services firms…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Reuters: A global Islamic liquidity management corporation has been set up to issue sharia-compliant instruments to help Islamic banks manage their risks and encourage more cross-border investments, an industry body said.
A lack of liquidity tools is seen as one of the key challenges to the emerging Islamic finance industry, with sharia banks handicapped partly due to the limited range of products they can invest in…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Arabnews.com: The announcement by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) last Thursday at the side of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank Group annual meetings in Washington that a Memorandum of Participation has been signed for the establishment of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM) has left the Islamic finance industry with abated breath.
The lack of a truly global and well-oiled liquidity management scheme has been the bane of the industry, with no government or supranational taking on the task until now…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Thenational.ae: Customers who are eager to be Sharia compliant are flocking to Islamic banks. Yet as Islamic lending boasts that it charges no interest, crunching the numbers churns out something of a surprise. Some Islamic mortgages charge more than already high interest-based traditional mortgages. You could even argue that an Islamic mortgage is, in some cases, so expensive it is akin to usury. And the terms are often less favourable.
Take the current murabaha rates in Syria and Lebanon. Murabaha is an Islamic equivalent to a mortgage or car loan. Instead of lending the customer money and charging interest, the bank purchases the asset and resells it for a profit to the customer…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Arabianbusiness.com: As Muslim populations in Europe and North America continue to grow, the demand for Islamic finance services is exceeding supply, one of the region’s leading bankers has said.
Mike de Graffenried, chief executive officer of Qatar First Investment Bank (QFIB), told Arabian Business: “I’m quite sure that the more profound demand is for retail finance; for home financing.”……………………………………Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Arabnews.com: After a dismal 2008 and 2009, is the tide starting to turn for the five Islamic banks authorized in the UK - Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME), Gatehouse Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank UK (formerly European Finance House), European Islamic Investment Bank (EIIB) and Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB)?
While some of the problems faced by the above banks were due to the impact of the global financial crisis and the credit crunch, the fundamental problem in some cases lay with flawed business, strategy and marketing plans and in one or two cases with mismatched senior management with minimal experience in Islamic finance…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulfnews.com: Saudi Arabian banks are expected to post “mild earnings performance” for the third quarter of this year as they focus on minimising risk, analysts said. Recent statistics showed that additional profit in August was 2.7 billion riyals, a 4.4 per cent decrease from the previous month, bringing July and August combined profits to 5.4 billion riyals.
This is 78 per cent of aggregate earnings posted by Saudi banks in the second quarter, data collated by analysts at Dubai-based Shuaa Capital show…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Cpifinancial.net: Salah Al Jaidah has stepped down with immediate effect from his post as Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Islamic Bank for personal reasons. The Board of Directors at Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) held a meeting to discuss among other items on the agenda, the request received from Salah Al Jaidah - requesting to release him from his current duties as CEO of QIB, based on personal reasons.
The Board of Directors had a comprehensive discussion on the request and after understanding the personal reasons, the Board of Directors approved the request from the CEO…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Arabnews.com: Shariah-complaint microfinance cooperatives are making inroads in rural Kerala much to the relief of the poor and needy and the most interesting feature of it is that the bad debt is almost nil, according to a paper presented at the International Conference on Islamic Finance: Products, Institutions and Regulators that concluded here recently.
According to Mohammed Palath, a researcher in economics at the Kannur University in northern Kerala who made a presentation on the role of these collectives called nidhis have proved the best tool for poverty alleviation and financial inclusion…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Gulfnews.com: There are numerous studies on poverty reduction in the third world, comprising almost all lof the 57 Muslim majority countries, emphasising the role of women as effective managers in raising and educating children, household finances, dealing with stakeholders (extended families) if they are empowered with the right opportunity tools.
It is also important to separate cultural (mis)influence versus references to women in the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH), and the leading roles of the Prophet Mohammad’s wives, Khadija and Ayesha…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bloomberg: Islamic bonds in Malaysia are luring global investors seeking to profit from Asia’s second-best performing emerging-market currency, driving yields to lows.
The 5.9 percent Shariah-compliant notes maturing in December 2016 issued by Binariang GSM Sdn., owner of Malaysia’s largest mobile-phone operator, returned 10.4 percent so far this year, according to exchange operator Bursa Malaysia Bhd…………………………………….Full Article: Source
Posted on 11 October 2010 by Laxman | Email|Print
From Bloomberg: Persian Gulf companies are joining a surge in emerging market share sales to raise funds as regional stock markets rebound and companies restructure their debt.
Aluminium Bahrain BSC, operator of an 850,000 metric-tons- a-year smelter, and Nawras, the Omani mobile phone company controlled by Qatar Telecom QSC, announced plans to sell shares in the coming months…………………………………….Full Article: Source
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